Technology and Changing Education

As a Preschool teacher I have a lot of feelings about technology influencing education.  I work in a Pre-K to Grade 8 school, so I am lucky to see how the other teachers and students use this new technology in everyday schooling.

Some positive aspects I have seen in the classrooms:

1. The students are very interested in the material.  Whether they are using iPads or Chromebooks or even just the SmartBoard, they are more focused on the lesson.

2. Teachers are able to explore a wider array of material outside a textbook.  The internet is limitless and give us invaluable resources to use in the classroom.  Lessons can be more fluid and can involve the children more.

3. Harder to misplace the work for children.  They take care of their tablets or computers better than they take care of worksheets.

4. We are creating tech savvy children which will translate into tech savvy adults.

This is not all of them, but a few I constantly think about.

Some negative aspects I have seen:

1. Forgetting Chromebooks or iPads at home and not being able to participate in the lesson.  Children are still young, and having them remember everything all the time can be a daunting task- they will forget things.  It becomes difficult to plan lessons that completely involve technology when the child does not have access to it.

2. Not staying on task.  Although the children might be more engaged in normal scenarios, occasionally they get off task, and with a computer and the Internet at their disposal, they become sidetracked surfing the web or playing games instead of engaging with their classmates.

3. Cheating.  Access to these wonderful resources has increased the amount of plagiarism in students work.  They will find a way.

4. Too much technology.  As a preschool teacher I am all about using gross and fine motor skills and emphasizing tactile activities.  I feel the earlier the child starts using an iPad or Chromebook (or whatever) that they lose some valuable life skills.  Not to say that using your fingers to type and poke is not fine motor- it is, but they need to have other skills outside of that.

5. Technology taking away from learning.  If there is a technology issue, it needs to be fixed before a lesson can start.  That takes away from valuable learning time for the children.  With children it often seems to be occurring more frequently, and they are not benefiting from this.

In all: I do not believe the negatives outweigh the positives or vice versa.  I think when involving technology, teachers need to walk a very fine line to use the technology and time effectively.